Saul ‘Canelo‘ Alvarez scored his sixth unanimous decision in a row this weekend in Riyadh Saudi Arabia, beating a fleet of foot William Scull in a dull unification fight.
Canelo had previously refused to face Scull when he was IBF mandatory challenger, dropping the belt which Scull then picked up in a vacant title bout against Vladimir Shishkin. Canelo, who is now 67 fights into his campaign, was keen on the fight when it gave him a chance to win back his old belt.
It became clear quickly why team Canelo were perhaps reluctant to face Scull, as he refused to engage and avoided any action. According to CompuBox, Canelo landed 56 punches to Scull’s 55, though the Cuban out-threw the Mexican as he focused on staying out of range and danger.
In the end it was a unanimous decision for Alvarez, albeit extremely underwhelming, with the scores of 115-113, 116-112 and 119-109. With the win he becomes two-time undisputed in the super-middleweight ranks and moves ahead to a fight against fellow pound-for-pound star, Terence Crawford.
Though the fight lacked any standout moments at all, Canelo did land to the body and a notable left hook up top in the eighth. Post-fight, Scull told Fight Hub TV that he didn’t feel the power that has stopped 39 opponents.
“No, I honestly didn’t feel any significant punches. We just kept executing our strategy, the plan for this fight. We didn’t need to change anything because I didn’t feel that he was hurting me at all.”
Alvarez will hope Crawford comes for a fight on September 12 in Las Vegas.
